Welcome to Stock & Resources 2013!

We hope you all had an excellent beginning to the New Year! Please find below some very interesting contests, features and news.

Precut stock - all the problems :/

Precut stock is something that like Marmite, people either love, or hate. Either way it brings its own special issues to stock providers and photomanipulators alike, so I've highlighted some very important points you should take into consideration below.

Precut stock is in its very nature "EDITED" therefore its is no longer in its original photographic form and should therefore be posted to resources/clipart OR stock/premade backgrounds/.. NOT to the usual stock galleries which should be reserved for original photography that has only very minor post production edits such as exposure/brightness/contrast etc. alterations according to DA's gallery definitions.

Precut stock - like all photomanipulations and premade stock MUST CREDIT THE ORIGINAL SOURCE! If its your own photograph please state so in the description! If its not your own then you MUST provide credits.

Like all other stock and resources crediting "GOOGLE" or "THE INTERNET" or variations thereof is not acceptable or appropriate. Precut images that have been taken from Google search or any other invalid source will be removed - just like unedited stock and resources that don't come from legitimate sources.

Precut stock is REQUIRED to fulfill the MINIMUM stock and resources guidelines for size and quality. Please check FAQ #809:What are DeviantArt's stock image guidelines? if you do not know what these are. If your precut image does not fulfill these guidelines they will be moved to a more appropriate category.

Further to the statement above it is important to remember that even if the entire image meets the minimum width and height requirements it is the actual physical part of the precut image that artists are going to use that must still be larger than a minimum of 600 px width or height. IE you can not have a tiny little precut in the middle of an expanse of transparent area to meet the minimum sizes.

Using stock from very VERY dubious websites.

This one is directed specifically at our photomanipulation community. There have been over the last month or so far too many reports of artists using stock from so called "free stock websites" that are nothing more than ripped/stolen hoards of images taken from all over the internet without permission.

Stock providers who take pride in their work do everything they can to produce and share good quality stock and resources that are legitimate for you to use. There is little we can do about these so called stock sites that keep popping up other than to avoid them and if need be try and get our stolen stock removed from them.

There are a shed load of legitimate free and pay for stock sites out there without you needing to use these other completely fake sites.

Not only is it irresponsible on your part but it also perpetuates the problem of stolen stock and people thinking the internet is a free for all. The only reason these sites exist is because people won't stop and think for a moment before closing the page. Take responsibility for your own artwork and show a little restraint. ONLY use legitimately sourced stock images. No matter how pretty that image is on that fake website, no matter how much you want to use it. DON'T. Track down the original if its that important and credit the original creator. Honestly its the least you can do!

I'm with you on the whole precut thing safe for the requirement to categorize it as a premade or clipart. I seldomly use precut stock bu when I do it's because I found sth fitting that happened to be precut in the normal categories. It wouldn't occur to me to search for anything but backgrounds in the premade section, probably because that's what premades are: backgrounds. And I think it's good to seperate those from photo stock cos sometimes it's hard to tellvthe difference especially for newbies. But cut outs can clearly be spotted sobI just don't see why they'd need to be categorized away from normal images. Just my two cents.

Dyeing turned out interesting- not exactly how I planned but it should still work just turned out differently. The tones are more earthy than expected which I like and some pieces got some extra due on it creating like a ripple effect. I like it Sewing I need to start. I am kind of enjoying just sitting and chilling for the time being- it is super hot at the moment.Planning on starting to sew tomorrow.

I'm back to embroidering stupid amounts again. One of these days I'm going to get a bloody machine that will do it for me lol. One of these days! Dyeing is always a bit hit and miss, but usually the results are "interesting" enough to still work lolEnjoy chilling out in the heat!!!

Ohhhh more embroidering? Your work is stunning! Please do share! I have no idea how to do large scale embroidery. I've only ever embroidered a small pillow.And yes- the dyeing. I agree- the results are interesting. I've finally started sewing which feels good.

I probably don't do my embroidery the "proper" way I posted shots of doing my blue/gold dress on my tumblr which probably shows about as much as possible without actually watching me sticking and drawing and sewing lol

The reason I suggested the premades gallery was so there was a place for all the premades, because like you said, they simply don't belong in the usual categories.

I think there is some stigma about what the clipart gallery is and thats why people are reluctant to use it (coupled with the many obvious rips in there) Maybe thats an area to focus on, and encourage people to use it more for their cut outs.

As for these other sites :shiver: Yeah, people just need to be a bit more vigilant. Most of them are pretty easy to pick out. One can just hope people listen to advice

Yep, that horse has been flogged so often By all of us I kinda cringe when I go into the clipart gallery, but I have to say on average the rest of the subcats are looking a lot better, we're still removing celeb stuff like its going out of fashion but I think more people are starting to get it drilled into their heads that if they post that shit its going to get taken straight out again.I'll poke Erin about us having a bit of a blitz in the clipart gallery I'm really hoping once all the new gallery descriptions are released it will help people understand better when they submit cause of the examples and descriptions actually being right there in front of them, though the example images for stock and res need to be changed as well. *lives on hope*

As for people using shit off those other websites.... I just don't even understand it.

I never understood it either, until last year. I started a low end (sounds bad, but thats the truth there) art class for something to do, help get my mental shit sorted blah blah.

One of the chicks there, would go to google, type in "dragon" or "elf" or whatever, find someone elses digital image, print it out and paint it. She didn't even care about resources, didnt even know what a resource was, was allowed to do this all through highschool without anyone saying. Oh hey, you know you can't actually do this. And she got PRAISED for being a creative artist

Yep, I don't think there was ever an art lesson in high school where anybody mentioned copyrights, and how its not OK to just use other peoples work. In fact my art teacher for my GCSE's positively encouraged me to copy a book cover. Not to mention absolutely nothing when I was doing my degree level graphic design. Its like the teachers/lecturers just expect everyone to understand or something :/ (Or are completely ignorant themselves)

Well, I made a very loud point about it, and it was ignored. The teacher muttered about it being wrong but never actually told people not to. Beats me, you would think sourcing resources properly, credit and copyright would be an actual module in an art class, much like people are taught how to properly reference things for an essay.

Great article! I'm always coming across really nice precuts and premades that unfortunately use stocks from other websites (SXC is the one that gets the most abuse, I'm afraid ) or look suspiciously like they came from Google. My philosophy is, if you're not sure whether or not it's legit, better just pass it by.

Yep, its absolutely the very best way. Its not worth your time or effort using stuff like that because in the end its your hard work thats being wasted when the stock gets removed or the original owner finds it and demands you remove it from your work.If you do come across stuff that really looks suspect please don't hesitate to pop Erin or I a note with the details!